Bakar Labs, the University of California, Berkeley's flagship incubator for life science, energy, and materials startups, announced the launch of a new building on campus that will provide critical infrastructure for life science startups scaling beyond the earliest stages.
Launched in partnership with the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), the IGI-Bakar Labs building will house expansion space for biotech companies transitioning out of early incubators as they exceed 20-30 employees. This space will help retain high-potential startups in the Berkeley ecosystem by offering state-of-the-art labs and offices, flexibility, community support, and proximity to campus resources so companies can continue to grow. Construction is projected to be complete in late 2028.
"It's important to keep startups in Berkeley because they're not just creating jobs for skilled graduates, they're feeding a cycle of innovation," said David Schaffer, a UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and director of QB3 and Bakar Labs. "When leaders stay connected to the ecosystem, they return to Bakar Labs as mentors, advisors and role models. That continuity strengthens the entire community."
"Bakar Labs gave us the foundation to move fast and stay focused during our earliest days," said Sophia Lugo, CEO & co-founder of Radar Therapeutics. "The community, resources, and collaborative energy were unlike anything else in the Bay Area. As we've grown, it's meant everything to have a path forward that lets us scale without losing that connection. This new expansion space is exactly what companies like ours need to keep building, without leaving behind the ecosystem that helped us get here."
"Bakar Labs provides what every biotech startup needs—an environment that accelerates both scientific rigor and company formation. At Ray Therapeutics, this ecosystem helped us refine our strategy, build a strong team, and move quickly toward the clinic. It's more than a lab space, it's an ecosystem for life science companies," said Peter Francis, MD, PhD, CSO and CMO at Ray Therapeutics.
The new facility builds on Bakar Labs' success since launching its first location on the south side of campus, in a landmark building originally home to the Berkeley Art Museum and renovated into a biotech incubator that has helped nurture more than 45 seed-stage startups. Collectively, since 2021 Bakar-incubated companies have raised more than $700 million in capital and created hundreds of jobs across the region.
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